


The Last Time

by TheGrinningKitten



Category: Undertale (Video Game)
Genre: Angst, Gen, Implied/Referenced Character Death, Undertale Genocide Route
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-01-17
Updated: 2017-01-17
Packaged: 2018-09-18 05:18:30
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,105
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9369713
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheGrinningKitten/pseuds/TheGrinningKitten
Summary: The encounter in Judgement Hall doesn’t go the way Chara expected.





	

**Author's Note:**

> Tumblr liked it, so, heck, might as well post it here.
> 
> The original, Russian version was written back around April, 2016. Character interpretation and voices are… awkward here and there.
> 
> There's also an [illustration](http://thegrinningkitten.tumblr.com/post/151987772555/have-you-ever-seen-a-monster-fall-down-while) available.

Upon entering the sunlit corridor, Chara is met with silence. Behind them is the dust-covered Underground. In front of them — not a soul. But Chara knows that's all a ruse. Just a few steps forward, and they'll be facing the one person who makes every Genocide worthwhile. Sans. They know the words he'll say by heart, and their dodging is practiced to perfection, yet time after time it brings them a sadistic sort of satisfaction to watch the ever-smiling skeleton slowly fall apart.

Sometime, many resets ago, Chara — or was it Frisk? — crept through this corridor wary of making a single sound, but any trepidation they held for this place is long gone, and now their confident steps echo in the spacious hall. The don't keep track of how far they've walked, but they know for sure that once they reach the next column, Sans will appear right out of thin air.

This order of events is so familiar that Chara stops at the right spot without thinking, and it takes them a bit just to realize that they're still alone. The growing excitement — _finally! something new!_ — is dampened by a vague feeling of dread. Something is _wrong_ here — in the worst meaning of the word.

Gripping their knife a bit tighter, Chara walks on.

They don't have to walk much farther before a patch of bright blue catches their eye, glaringly out of place among the gold of the corridor. That's a sleeve of the familiar hoodie. Chara hurries towards it.

Sans is sitting on the floor, leaning against a column. His eye sockets are closed, as if he's dozing, but when the child stops by his side, just a few feet away, the skeleton raises his head and meets Chara's eyes. The eye-lights glow dimmer than usual, which makes him look tired and sort of sickly. The monster spends a couple seconds looking Chara over — searching for something in their expression — then turns to stare in front of himself. Back to ignoring the child, or so it seems.

It's quiet for a bit.

Sans is the first to break the silence.

"heh... guess, no bad time this run. well, for you, at least." His short, quiet laugh turns into a cough.

Chara grips the knife like a lifeline. The feeling of _wrongness_ just keeps growing.

"by the by, here's a question for ya. do you think even the worst person can change..? that everyone can be a good person, if they just try?"

Chara, for once, is almost relieved to hear the words so familiar they sound like a broken record. Their joy is short-lived, since Sans goes off script again.

"nah, don't bother answering. we're here. again. that's a good enough answer for me," the skeleton doesn't look at them, and Chara can't tell whether he's talking to them or to himself. "how many resets has it been? five hundred? six? heh," he shakes his head. "stopped counting after two hundred."

Silence again, but not for long.

"you remember what LV and EXP are, right? though," he glances at Chara from the corner of his eye and returns to staring at the column across from him, "why bother remembering when you know from experience, right?" he smirks humorlessly and continues. "you know, kid, HP is an acronym too. it stands for Hope."

He falls silent, leaving it to Chara to understand just what he's implying. They get it a moment later and check the skeleton's stats. The tight sensation in his chest makes Sans wince.

"wow, so much attention to my humble self. you're really pulling at my soul-strings there, kid."

Chara ignores the jokes, staring instead at the word "SANS" and a green bar with "HP 1/1" next to it. From time to time the numbers change to zeroes or even turn negative, and it takes them longer and longer to turn back to ones. Mirroring the state of the numbers, the green bar distorts and breaks into parts like a glitchy image.

"hey, kid," Sans calls. Chara looks at him wide-eyed, and he's staring back at them. "have you ever seen a monster fall down?" As Chara slowly shakes their head, Sans's eye-lights go out completely. "heh. well, now's your cha..."

His eye-sockets close, and his head falls forward onto his chest.

Chara stares at Sans, waiting... for what? For him to jump to his feet, screaming, "sike!" and throwing bones their way? Or maybe he'll just look up and laugh at their expression?

They think they're ready for anything. They realize they're not when Sans's stats glitch one last time before disappearing and his bones start turning into dust right before their eyes.

Their heart is beating at their throat, and Chara can't breathe, and everything is so wrong, wrong, _wrong_!

Before Sans's body can finish dusting, Chara summons a reset button under their palm and presses it so hard their knuckles turn white.

The world is swallowed by darkness.

***

Papyrus knocks on Sans's door for the fifth time this morning.

"SANS?" he's still hoping to get a response. "SANS, THAT'S TOO MUCH SLEEP EVEN FOR YOU! GET UP ALREADY, YOU LAZYBONES!"

The demanding tone gives way to a worried one. Breakfast spaghetti has gone cold, and both brothers are considerably late for work.

"SANS, I'M COMING IN!" Papyrus warns and grabs the door handle but doesn't turn it just yet. Usually, he only lets himself into others' rooms in special cases — like when he hears his brother suffering from a nightmare, for example — but this case is exceptional. It's not uncommon for Sans to refuse to get up the first time Papyrus calls, but, at least, he always grumbles something like "i'm almost up!" or "five more minutes!" in response. Today the room is unnervingly quiet.

"I'M COMING IN!" Papyrus repeats and, having not received an answer, opens the door. As usual, the room is a mess. He spots his brother's favorite hoodie lying on top of the bare mattress that serves as a bed, but Sans is nowhere to be found.

"SANS?" Papyrus calls, looking around and walking closer to the mattress. "IS THIS ONE OF YOUR PRANKS?" He reaches for the hoodie but flinches back immediately, staring at it in horror. "SANS?" His eyes search the surroundings frantically. "SANS, THAT'S N-NOT FUNNY!" His voice breaks. "Y-YOUR JOKES ARE ABSOLUTELY FOOLISH!" A sob breaks out, and he covers his mouth, slowly sinking to the floor when his legs refuse to hold him. "SANS! T-THAT'S EN-NOUGH JOKING AROUND! S-STOP IT! PLEASE!" First tears appear in his eye sockets.

Underneath the hoodie the mattress is covered in dust.


End file.
